


Committing to a New Future

by Merfilly



Series: Rise Up, Rebels [15]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-13
Updated: 2016-04-13
Packaged: 2018-06-02 01:21:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6544648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anakin learns of his children, and makes peace with Obi-Wan</p>
            </blockquote>





	Committing to a New Future

Anakin, despite the support of the suit, felt as if he could not breathe. Seeing Padmé had been hard enough. He'd never dared hoped that she had a child… children? His eyes shot to her in confusion as he staggered to sit on the bed in the chamber he had been given, and she came to join him, a flick of her hand dismissing Obi-Wan.

The Jedi disappeared silently, as much a specter as his code name within the Rebellion.

"Children?"

"A boy and a girl. Ahsoka is teaching them. They are wild Force users, as she refuses to adhere to the structure of the Jedi." 

"Good!"

Padmé sighed softly at the hate she heard in that, but Ahsoka herself spoke bitterly of the Order, even as she mourned those she had known. Obi-Wan… only said that the Order had failed to evolve. He'd never really tried to keep touch with Yoda, though he appreciated those times when Ahsoka would meditate with him.

"They recently built their first lightsabers… well, recently whereby I mean before this mission. And Tatooine seemed safest, with Beru and Owen," she explained. "So they are with family."

"Because Naboo would not have been safe," Anakin agreed. "Unless you could smuggle them to the Gungans, and even that would have been risky."

"Yes." Padmé leaned in against his side, encouraging him to put his arm around her shoulder. He marveled at how much more pressure sensation he was receiving from the suit's bio-feedback. It felt like he was truly touching her now.

"Tell me all about them, everything I missed," he said, keeping that arm around him.

"Luke and Leia are very much you and I in equal measures, just combined differently," she began, her voice falling into a gentle, warm cadence that he thought he could listen to forever.

++++

Obi-Wan looked up as Anakin came to join him in the cockpit. He didn't flinch as much as he had when it had been the black-suit, but Anakin could feel how uneasy his former Master was.

"I forgive you."

Those three words wrapped around Obi-Wan and cut him wide open all at once. There was hubris in them, and an offer of a meeting, somewhere in the middle of the absolutes that had flown between them.

"I still do not understand, Anakin, but the last several months have shown me that I let this web of lies exist inside your mind for as long as you'd been my Padawan," Obi-Wan told him in answer to that. "What you did — "

"No, Obi-Wan. Leave the larger parts for later, for when I go into exile. For now, this is about you and I, and about Padmé and the twins, about Ahsoka." Anakin's gaze was steady behind the lenses that let him see true color, or sort through the same options found in a good pair of binocs. "I forgive you for crippling me instead of killing me, because you saved my wife, my children, and gave my student a chance to grow even more."

Obi-Wan was positive he would never understand how Anakin Skywalker's mind worked. "I accept that forgiveness, and offer this: I forgive you the hate that I let grow between us," he said.

"I accept that as well," Anakin said, before settling in the co-pilot seat. "Now, tell me about you and Padmé."

"There is nothing to tell, Anakin. She is a friend, as she always has been. She is my leader, who I follow for reasons between she and I."

"I need to understand those reasons, Obi-Wan, to keep the darker emotions at bay. You say 'friends' and I see the warmth and ease between you, and it brings out a part of me I do not like."

Obi-Wan raised his chin, meeting that lensed gaze. "I follow Padmé because we both loved you," he said, firmly. "I follow her because she reached out and made me live when I buried my heart on Mustafar. I follow her because she refuses to let me live as a hollow, devoid of emotions and performing only duty. Have we grown close? Yes. Do I love her? Yes, in the way of friends. Am I sleeping with her or desire her? No, Anakin, I do not. She has shared my bed on many occasions, as safe with me as if she were sharing a bed with her children. Does that assuage your dark emotions? Do you trust me enough to let it stand at that?"

His voice had risen, as he grew heated with emotions for Padmé's sake. He had to protect her, and that meant saving Anakin from himself.

Anakin, he suddenly realized, was smiling at him inside that new helmet. Anakin was amused, and … warm? The Force sense of him, limited to this small space, was warm and full of good emotions.

"I am glad to see you can be passionate about something, Obi-Wan." He bowed his head briefly. "Thank you. For your honesty. I need that from you, even if it will make me angry. Because I need to see your real thoughts, as we work through this. No more illusions or lies."

"I never lied," Obi-Wan said, but it was a weak defense. He'd omitted, and shifted the truth based on perspective.

"Then it will be easy enough to go forward."


End file.
